The Instinctive Screenplay

Book excerpt: What is it that makes humans engage with a dramatic narrative? Is it linked to our primitive selves, contained within our instinctive experience? This innovative text argues that understanding how and why our human instincts are brought into play as we watch screen drama is the key to writing it. Analysing four powerful instincts – willpower, logic, morality and emotion – Sam North explores how they determine our level of involvement in their drama, and how screenwriters can use them to develop their craft. Including a variety of both well-known and less famous examples, from The Shawshank Redemption to Samira Makhmalbaf's The Apple, this book offers a fresh new approach to thinking about, discussing and writing screenplays.